Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Okolona being sued by local resident

Recently the small town of Okolona has come under much ridicule for its bookkeeping skills, or lack thereof.

This has lead up to several charges being made and a number lawsuits pending against the town.

After Okolona citizen, James Paul, noticed a discrepancy with his monthly water bill, Paul began to question the town's records.

Mayor Joy McElhannon and Recorder/Treasurer Kim McKay informed Paul, but he was not allowed to see the books. Paul, knowing this was against the law, hired a lawyer.

The council then dug a deeper hole for itself, when Paul was told he could see the town records if he paid McKay $8 while he was looking at them.

To top it all off, the council also passed an illegal ordinance to keep video recorders and tape recorders out of all the town's meetings. According to the American's with Disabilities Act, American Civil Rights Act and the Constitution of the United States of America, this was a violation to everyone's rights.

However, everything had calmed down a little at this past Wednesday night's meeting of the Okolona City Council.

Several council members were absent from the meeting and the ones who were there were sitting with their backs to the crowd. Citizens were not sure if this was a new meeting arrangement or if the council was avoiding the video cameras that were present.

The meeting was called to order at 6 p.m. Mayor McElhannon started the meeting by reminding everyone there were no minutes to read since last months meeting had been canceled due to the presence of video cameras. She then proceeded to read Ordinance 92 that would be approved by the council to continue with the five mill taxes.

Mayor McElhannon also informed the council four separate complaints had been made on the town of Okolona to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. The first complaint concerned illegal dumping on the old school grounds. Supposedly a whole was dug and several unwanted items had been buried there. The items were then covered by wood shavings.

Mayor McElhannon said the ADEQ searched the property finding a few old light fixtures and some other small items. These items were removed without a problem.

The second problem was sewage leaking at several pump stations. This was also found to be fine. Other pump stations were checked and there were no further problems besides a flow meter that was not calibrated. It has been taken care of at this time.

The fourth complaint was the quality of Okolona's water if the sewer system was leaking.

The water was tested on sight and found to be perfectly safe.

Mayor McElhannon closed the meeting by saying, "These complaints were unnecessary. They wasted the taxpayers's money, they wasted the time of the people at ADEQ and they cost me valuable time."

She then told the town the water department records were available for public viewing if everyone was willing.

Several citizens were interested in looking at the records. As Mayor McElhannon proceeded to get the records out, Paul asked if he would be able to view the records himself on January 3 and earlier promised.

At that time Mayor McElhannon became testy and said, "No. Your lawyer was advised that you would be able to view them tonight. Do you want to see the records tonight or not?"

Paul answered, "No I do not." Mayor McElhannon then took it upon herself to assume no one else wanted to view them either. She was quickly told several other citizens still wanted to see the records.

According to Paul, a deal had been made to the council stating if Paul was allowed to see the records on January 3, he would drop the charges he has against the council for violating his civil rights.

Paul said he would pursue the law suit at this time.